Wesley J. Smith

The transition of SHS to the First Things family of blogs will soon be upon us. To see what it will look like, you can go to FT’s new home page—still only partially constructed—and then hit the blogs link. Secondhand Smoke will appear. Hit that link, and you will find me, or . . . . Continue Reading »

Calling global warming, “our era’s cholera,” a UK greenie named Muir Gray is urging doctors to get involved in stopping climate change (as if they don’t already have enough to do). From the column:Climate change will hit the poorest nations hardest, but it will affect us too. . . . . Continue Reading »

There is nothing these days that can be safely considered permanently beyond the pale, unthinkable, flat-out undoable — and that apparently now includes cutting off healthy limbs of patients with a mental illness called body integrity identity disorder, or BIID. BIID sufferers obsessively . . . . Continue Reading »

Well this is ironic: People with Down syndrome—against whom a concerted pogrom is being waged to wipe off the face of the earth via genetic testing and eugenic abortion or infanticide—may hold the key to an effective treatment for cancer. From the story: Scientists may have solved the . . . . Continue Reading »

Secondhand Smokette and I went to a Barnes and Noble this morning and I stumbled upon a new book: Larry’s Kidney: Being the True Story of How I Found Myself in China with My Black Sheep Cousin and His Mail-Order Bride, Skirting the Law to Get Him a Transplant—and Save His Life, by Daniel . . . . Continue Reading »

There is nothing these days that can ever be safely considered to be permanently beyond the pale, unthinkable, flat-out undoable—and that apparently includes cutting off healthy limbs of patients with BIID.When I first heard of body integrity identity disorder—BIID—in which . . . . Continue Reading »

The first Washington State legal assisted suicide has happened. C and C, of course, promptly issued a press release. From the story: The woman, Linda Fleming, 66, of Sequim, Wash., on the Olympic Peninsula, died Thursday evening after taking lethal medication prescribed by a doctor under the law, . . . . Continue Reading »

In Louisiana, a nurse who was demoted for refusing to participate in dispensing the morning after pill due to religious objections, has won the right from the state supreme court to sue her former employer for religious discrimination. From the story:The Louisiana Supreme Court has declined to hear . . . . Continue Reading »

More proof—as if it were really needed—that the assisted suicide movement believes in death on demand for any non transitory physical or mental condition perceived by the suicidal person as causing unbearable suffering. From the bill (C-384):(7)Despite anything in this section, a medical . . . . Continue Reading »

Sigh. We have repeatedly discussed the sloppy language used by media to discuss crucial moral issues—which is important because of the power of lexicon to materially impact our views. Now, the BBC is the latest media outlet to misuse the term “brain death,” to apply to a South . . . . Continue Reading »